Judge gives rapper Meek Mill deadline for taking etiquette classes

PHILADELPHIA rapper Meek Mill has a busy summer planned: He'll be recording an album in New York, performing in the Dominican Republic and making stops in Miami, Atlanta and Baltimore.

But by Aug. 4, he had better have completed etiquette classes, a Philadelphia judge warned the rapper yesterday.

Meek Mill - legally known as Robert Williams - is in need of the classes based on how he speaks in court, how he acts outside of court and things he has posted on social-media sites, Common Pleas Judge Genece Brinkley said during a probation status hearing.

"That's why I wanted an etiquette person to help him out. He has a lot of issues," Brinkley told defense attorney Gary Silver.

Mill, 26, has been on probation since 2009, when he was paroled after spending about six months in jail for a 2008 conviction for drug dealing and gun possession.

Since then, he has emerged as a national rap star. Still, Brinkley requires him to check in periodically to determine if he is complying with his probation requirements.

She first ordered the rapper to take the etiquette classes May 21, after Mill repeatedly failed to report all of his travels to probation officer Treas Underwood, and some of his social-media messages stoked fans to post threats to the judge, Underwood and Assistant District Attorney Noel DeSantis.

"He has to watch what he puts on social media. It can affect his freedom," said DeSantis, who verbally sparred with Silver during yesterday's hearing.

Brinkley told the rapper that he was still not complying with all of her orders, including traveling to places without permission.

Mill, wearing an untucked gray dress shirt, black jeans and black high-top sneakers, complained that when he gets offered club appearances on short notice, he has no way of contacting his probation officer on weekends.

"You just gonna miss money all day," Mill said.

"That's the consequences of being on probation," DeSantis snapped.

Brinkley, who approved Mill's travel schedule through Sept. 27, said etiquette classes would give him a "big-picture perspective" on how he should act personally and professionally.

Silver said his client's record label would arrange the classes.

Brinkley will learn how good of a student Mill has been Sept. 6 - his next court date.